Little Musical Gifts 



In 2022 the IPA in Culture Committee will offer you each month a little musical gift, a live performance by a singer, band or orchestra, a piece of classical, jazz, folk or pop music, something for you to be remembered, discovered, mused on or simply enjoyed. (You may also find links to our little gifts of 2021 and our 2021 Year of Short films).

March: Leonard Cohen - The Partisan

When they poured across the border I was cautioned to surrender, this I could not do; I took my gun and vanished.

I have changed my name so often,
I've lost my wife and children but I have many friends,
and some of them are with me.

An old woman gave us shelter,
kept us hidden in the garret,
then the soldiers came;
she died without a whisper.

There were three of us this morning
I'm the only one this evening
but I must go on;
the frontiers are my prison.

Oh, the wind, the wind is blowing,
through the graves the wind is blowing,
freedom soon will come; then we'll come from the shadows.

Les Allemands étaient chez moi (The Germans were at my home)
ils m'ont dit "Résigne-toi" (They said, "Surrender,")
mais je n'ai pas pu (this I could not do)
j'ai repris mon arme (I took my weapon again)

J'ai changé cent fois de nom (I have changed names a hundred times)
j'ai perdu femme et enfants (I have lost wife and children)
mais j'ai tant d'amis (But I have so many friends)
j'ai la France entière (I have all of France)

Un vieil homme dans un grenier (An old man in an attic)
pour la nuit nous a cachés (Hid us for the night)
les Allemands l'ont pris (The Germans captured him)
il est mort sans surprise (He died without surprise)

Oh, the wind, the wind is blowing,
through the graves the wind is blowing,
freedom soon will come;
then we'll come from the shadows.

February: Keith Jarrett - Over the Rainbow

World famous for his solo concerts, Keith Jarrett improvises the song from the Wizard of Oz, Over the Rainbow (Harold Arlens, music, Yip Harburg, lyrics) in his 1984 Tokyo concert: way up high are the dreams that you dream of ...

April: Ukraine

Ukrainian woman playing the piano for the last time in her bombed home in Ukraine.

January: Leonard Bernstein conducting with his face

In 1984 when Leonard Bernstein conducted the Vienna Philharmonic in Ann Arbor using only his facial expressions and body language as they were playing the last movement of Haydn’s Symphony No. 88, Julie Jaffee Nagel was in the audience. "Experiencing him was electrifying", she remembers. "Bernstein was the music itself. He never hesitated to emote one way or another, often jumping up and down, even dancing on the podium. He inspired so many people with his talent and ability to communicate the passion in music." He can still carry us along today.